Davis goes on air with second attack ad

AUSTIN — State Sen. Wendy Davis, the Democratic nominee for governor, is reviving questions about Republican opponent Greg Abbott’s oversight of a cancer research group, making it the focus of her second TV ad for the general election.

The 30-second commercial comes as some Democrats look to tie Abbott, the attorney general, to the indictment against Gov. Rick Perry, which stems from his threat to veto state funding for an ethics enforcement office at the same time it was probing the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, known as CPRIT. Perry’s legal team has aimed to blunt the alleged connection with an affidavit swearing the investigation of the institute had nothing to do with the governor’s office.

Abbott’s campaign sought to get in front of the attack Friday night, emailing reporters a link to the ad and saying it reflects a “desperate, losing campaign playing fast and loose with charges that have already been debunked.” Shortly thereafter, the Davis’ people confirmed the commercial was theirs and that it would start airing Saturday. They later described it as a “significant buy running in multiple markets.”

The spot features a cancer survivor suggesting Abbott looked out for his campaign contributors as the institute was engulfed in scandal over how it doled out money. Abbott, who had a deputy represent him on the CPRIT oversight committee, has received donations from companies that won grants from the institute.

“When you’re battling cancer, you pray for a cure. But Greg Abbott did his best to keep my prayers from being answered,” the survivor, Manuel Alvarado, says as the video begins. It goes on to highlight a news report detailing the personal gifts Abbott has disclosed since first winning elected office in 1993.

The institute has been in the headlines lately because the state’s Public Integrity Unit (PIU) was investigating it when Perry issued the veto that’s now at the center of the case against him. A Travis County grand jury indicted him Aug. 15, accusing him of abusing his office and coercing a public servant by threatening to cut the unit’s funding unless Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg resigned following a drunk-driving arrest. The unit is housed in Lehmberg’s office.

On Thursday morning, Perry’s legal team announced an affidavit from a PIU investigator stating he found “absolutely no evidence whatsoever” that Perry or his office were involved in the CPRIT investigation. The Abbott campaign cited the affidavit in trying to knock down the ad Friday night.